Monthly Archives: May 2011

Victoria Coren wrote a very funny piece on embarrassment in Sunday’s Observer. Here’s her reaction to re-reading her teenage diary: A hundred years have passed. I have no schoolteachers now, I have a mortgage and gas bills…..yet, reading that story, I … Continue reading →

When I was at university, our students’ union was in the city centre. Its Friday night discos were popular events, attracting locals and students from other colleges. The three bars and large dance floor on the ground floor were heaving every Friday night. … Continue reading →

News just in that Sharon Shoesmith has won her Court of Appeal case against her dismissal following the death of Baby P. Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while will remember that I had doubts about … Continue reading →

More goodies from the latest OECD forecasts. Well, actually, they’re not that good from the UK perspective. The growth forecasts show the UK lagging behind other comparable economies. The OECD predicts that even the Eurozone, when taken as a whole, … Continue reading →

The OECD published its latest economic outlook yesterday. As usual, it’s packed with interesting information, to which I will probably refer in the coming months. Among other useful stuff, it contains the most recent government debt projections. I have stuck these on a graph, together … Continue reading →

Everybody knows that business is changing as new web applications, intelligent devices and mobile communications explode into every area of operation. Technology, we are told, will enable us to work smarter and will provide new opportunities for people to network and … Continue reading →

Does this sound familiar? You interview someone for a senior role and, afterwards, you look at each other and say, “How the hell was he on £150K?” Somehow, there seems to be a gulf between the candidate’s previous salary and his performance … Continue reading →

XpertHR’s Michael Carty has published some figures that confirm my Feminisation of HR hypothesis. HR has, indeed, become more female over the last ten years or so. If this graph were extended further back in time, it would almost certainly continue on … Continue reading →

More reaction to the High Pay Commission’s report, this time from Left Futures, a left-wing Labour group blog with an impressive list of contributors. “Top pay is about power not merit or value,” they say. Well, they’re sort of right. … Continue reading →

An MP responds to the anti-union rhetoric (As discussed in Monday’s post.) which seems to have become fashionable in recent months. Occasionally I hear old rhetoric aimed against the Trade Unions. In the private sector that is a battle fought and decided years … Continue reading →